Yankees Win in Kamieniecki’s Den

If the New York Yankees do win the AL East title, they might want to find a couple of starts at home for Scott Kamieniecki in the playoffs.

Kamieniecki extended his home winning streak to 12 straight decisions Saturday as the Yankees beat the Kansas City Royals 3-2 to move into a first-place tie with Toronto in the East.

“I’m comfortable on the road,” Kamieniecki said. “Things have just worked better here. But how can you not feel confident with this team behind you?”

Mike Gallego had three hits for the Yankees off starter Mike Magnante (0-1), including a tie-breaking RBI single in the sixth inning. Gallego also made two sensational defensive plays in the hole at shortstop.

“With this team the opposing pitchers have to be careful with the bottom of the order,” said Gallego, who batted eighth. “The bottom of this order can hurt you.”

Kamieniecki (9-4) gave up two runs and five hits in eight innings to improve to 8-0 at Yankee Stadium this season. The right-hander has a lifetime record of 16-6 at home and 3-16 on the road.

“Scott is just starting to come into his own,” manager Buck Showalter said. “He’s pitched well on the road at times. It’s just one of those trends.”

Paul Assenmacher got one out in the ninth and Steve Farr finished for his 24th save. The Yankees won for the eighth time in their last 10 games.

“I stopped looking at the scoreboard after the fourth inning,” Showalter said of the Toronto game. “We have to take care of our own business.”

For the second straight game, Kansas City manager Hal McRae was not happy with the home plate umpire.

“We’ve been squeezed for two straight games,” said McRae, who argued with plate umpire John Hirschbeck in the eighth inning when the manager delayed in making a pitching change.

With the score 2-all in the sixth, Bernie Williams doubled with one out, extending his hitting streak to 19 games. Williams moved to third on a groundout and scored when Gallego dumped a single into shallow left field for the go-ahead run.

“He made a good pitch to Gallego,” McRae said. “It was a bloop hit that was the difference in the game.”

Magnante was making his first appearance of the season for the Royals after going 2-6 at Triple-A Omaha in 33 games. He gave up three runs and eight hits in six innings, dropping to 0-3 lifetime against New York.

“I think after I got through the first four hitters I let down on the others,” Magnante said. “I struggled with the bottom of the order.”

Trailing 2-1, the Royals tied the score in sixth on Wally Joyner’s sacrifice fly.

New York scored two runs in the second on Mike Stanley’s 20th homer and Pat Kelly’s RBI single. Kelly batted ninth.

Greg Gagne hit his eighth homer leading off the fifth to pull Kansas City within a run.